The Houston trio delivered a performance that was hard to take your eyes off of, even if the band’s limited use of stage lighting sometimes made it difficult to see everything clearly. Still, that was all part of the atmosphere, helping establish the perfect mood for the band’s otherworldly, psychedelic sound. Their music felt as if it had been transmitted across space and time (and possibly from another dimension altogether), blending hypnotic riffs, eerie Middle Eastern-inspired horns, the tribal-sounding rhythms of Roots-era Sepultura, and often guttural chanting. And, of course, there were the costumes.

The masked and anonymous trio took to the stage in their trademark garb, looking like the high priests of some alien society preparing to enact a ritual. And then they proceeded to rock out – in the most esoteric way possible, of course. Nary a word of stage banter (save for what I perceived to be a whispered “thank you” right at the end) – no, that might break the spell. Just some straight up heavy, driving weirdness. To make the obvious connection to another costumed musical act that’s currently having a moment, one could consider Ak’chamel to be the darker, less whimsical yang to Angine de Poitrine’s yin.

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Vocalist Takaho Komatsu is a compelling frontman. He mostly stuck to the genre’s familiar repertoire of guttural growls but occasionally stepped outside the standard grindcore playbook with a few other tricks, including a cleaner vocal register that at times brought Jello Biafra to mind, as well as the occasional unhinged “muahaha” that suggested either a cackling old-time movie villain or a particularly amped-up Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. For their part, his bandmates hit just as hard, laying down some short and sweet blasts of musical chaos. After 30-plus years and many, many releases, Unholy Grave proved that the old guys can still grind, having lost none of their appetite for sonic destruction.

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Today’s Minor Victories is out now via TODO Records.

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Artifact is out December 11 via Rough Trade Records.

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“Thanks for coming out early. It means a lot.”

It was a modest sentiment, but one that felt fitting for mercury. Touring alongside Holywatr, the Nashville-based band fronted by Maddie Kerr occupied a slightly different musical world from that of their tourmates, offering a much more subtle, atmospheric vibe than the headliners’ “Let’s open up this pit!” energy.

Frankly, on paper, the pairing felt like a bit of a mismatch musically, but Holywatr’s crowd seemed pretty receptive to mercury’s more subdued approach. Taking to the stage just after 8:00pm, mercury brought a moody, slow-burning sound, pairing grungy instrumentals with ethereal, almost folky vocals. Think Phoebe Bridgers’ vulnerability crossed with Chelsea Wolfe’s darker, gothic edges.

The band closed out their brief set with “Roar of the Heliac Goat,” a song introduced, again in a fairly modest and understated fashion, by Kerr as “a song that just came out.” Kerr also offered up a quick thank-you to their hosts, adding that they put on a really good show.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t really dig what Holywatr were laying down, but I knew going in that they would not be my thing. Thankfully, mercury’s set offered something that was much more my speed. Their music asks for a different kind of attention, drawing listeners in through texture, mood and just the right balance of heaviness and softness

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Anything can be a hammer.

On the surface, it’s simply a factual statement. Any item, with the proper heft and applied with a suitable amount of force, can indeed be a hammer. Got a nail you want to nail down? Grab, I dunno, a sturdy shoe, or a nearby rock, and it’ll get the job done. Easy-peasy.

Anything Can Be a Hammer is also the name of the latest album from Brooklyn four-piece Bloodsports, and when paired with the band’s name, things could conceivably take a more sinister turn. Place the words “blood” and “hammer’ in each other’s vicinity and suddenly you’re thinking of some maniac going on the attack. Or maybe that’s just me – after all, I did watch The Slumber Party Massacre the other day, a film where a household tool is famously used as a weapon. But I digress. Back to the review. 

Actually, the more that I think about it, the more apt my reference to an ’80s slasher flick seems when discussing Bloodsports’ set. Like a good horror film, the band can unsettle and entertain in equal measure. And their herky-jerky shifts between slowcore vibes and angular noise rock riffage (think Slint with a dash of Shudder to Think) paired with all-out bursts of screaming could certainly qualify as jump scares if you weren’t expecting them. Much like a hammer, Bloodsports can be quite forceful and effective when they need to be. And that includes the live show.

Touring alongside Kansas trio Flooding (who mine a similar sonic territory as their tourmates), Bloodsports put on a compelling performance. They may not be much for stage banter, but the music is more than capable of speaking for itself.

In a way the band’s sound reminded me of the kind of stuff that used to jolt me awake while listening to CBC Radio 2’s Brave New Waves back in the day. And if you don’t get my use of yet another reference to media from a bygone decade (congratulations, you’re young!), radio programs like Brave New Waves (or your chosen campus radio show of choice) were how we used to find out about cool, weird new music like this back in the day, before the almighty algorithm found everything for us. It was a simpler time. No less noisy, but perhaps a bit simpler.

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